Goldman Sachs has deepened its engagement with artificial intelligence by working with Anthropic to develop autonomous agents for accounting, compliance and other internal banking functions, the bank’s chief information officer has confirmed. Over the past six months Goldman has embedded engineers from Anthropic to build systems based on the firm’s Claude model that are designed to handle complex, rules-based tasks that historically required significant manual effort.
The initial development focus has been on automating accounting for trades and transactions and on client vetting and onboarding processes, which involve large volumes of data and compliance checks. The agents, described internally as “digital co-workers”, are nearing launch within Goldman’s operations, with the goal of reducing process intensity for professionals in areas that are highly structured and resource-heavy.
Goldman’s move reflects a broader shift within the financial services sector towards adopting AI not simply for auxiliary tasks but as integrated tools in core operational workflows. According to statements from Marco Argenti, the CIO, early experimentation with Claude’s capabilities began with coding assistance but expanded to more advanced banking functions as confidence in the model’s reasoning grew.
The development has occurred against the backdrop of a multiyear strategy at Goldman that positions generative AI at the centre of its technology roadmap, led by CEO David Solomon. Argenti has emphasised that the firm’s approach frames these systems as capacity enhancers that allow employees to execute tasks faster, with a view to improving client experience and operational outcomes rather than immediate headcount reduction.
While the deployment of agent-based AI tools is advancing, questions remain about how such systems will be governed within regulated environments and the extent to which human oversight will persist in areas subject to strict financial and legal compliance requirements. This unresolved dimension highlights ongoing industry deliberation about balancing automation benefits with operational control in financial institutions.
